Corruption – Ernest Koroma a Dark Saint?
If silence means consent, then President of the Republic of Sierra Leone is as guilty as charged in the series of corrupt cases that have been levied on him and members of his family by the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party for ever since such allegations of corruption was brought against him, his government and members of his family, silence is the only thing the public has got from the first gentle man of the country.
The situation as serious as it now stands as if President Koroma does not respect the fact that he is answerable to the people of this country and we would not want to dismiss such concerns raised by the SLPP because ‘its politics’ coming from the opposition-they are serious and daunting both the image of the presidency and his government and the image of the nation as a whole.
Last Friday, Sierra Express Media published a front page article calling on the president to break the silence of the allegation of serious corruption implications, contrasting such ugly development of entrenched family corruption to the very essence that brought Ernest Bai Koroma to power-the hint of honesty he carried during the elections campaigns.
It could be recalled that during the swearing in ceremony of President Koroma, one of the crusades he promised to mount is “zero tolerance on corruption, No sacred cow will be spared”. If Koroma’s silence must continue on this matter then we are led to ask where his integrity is on the matter of his sworn fight against corruption when the NPA case has yielded no further action after the Anti Corruption Commission-ACC investigations; at least he has to explain how and why?Â
If the explanation in that matter is trial as such that it cannot be pursued in any way, let him explain how his brother Sylvanus Koroma won the rice contract and how come he all of the sudden is benefiting from mammoth bank grants and loans if such could not be interpreted according to the ACC Act as conflict of interest.
Does the silence over the fact that elder sister to the President Admire Sesay is the only person that is able to win contracts to cater for government function; how would Koroma explain this in synchrony with the Anti Corruption Act that indicts for conflict of interest which means that one cannot be in a position of trust and keep issuing contract to kindred and family members.
We don’t want to reckon that Ernest Bai Koroma is merely paying lip service in the fight against corruption whilst he and his family are not able to answer to strong allegations of corruption brought against them. We still would not want to take it that his silence on the matter means he has resigned to the truthfulness of those allegation; we would still want to relish the acclaimed sainthood we saw in him that made us bid for his ticket to rule but we would want to also be clear that ‘our man is still clean and stainless’ and the only way that’s to be done is to come out of the dark and tell us his own version of the family-come-government corruption saga.
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